


The Terrible Truth

by FloraTheWriter



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: A bit of Magic, Additional Tags to Be Added, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, Internal Conflict, International Fanworks Day 2021, M/M, Mentions Of Infidelity, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Smut, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:01:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29430669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloraTheWriter/pseuds/FloraTheWriter
Summary: After searching for years, Chan finds out that his soulmate has been right in front of him all along, hiding in plain sight. But why was Felix hiding? And why won't he accept their fate?When tragedy strikes, Felix has no choice but to accept the terrible truth: The universe will go to great, often terrible lengths to make sure that nothing creates a barrier between soulmates.But Chan has to face a terrible truth too: Even if Felix accepts that they are soulmates, he may never accept Chan's love.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13
Collections: Drabbles Challenge for Chaotic Writers





	The Terrible Truth

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted to write a soulmate au so thank you to the mods for organizing this Drabbles Challenge 💗

“Since the beginning of time, we humans have been rebelling against the idea of fate. If our ancestors didn’t rebel, if they accepted every injustice, if they tolerated whatever harsh fate was set out for them, we probably wouldn’t be here right now.” 

The young man paced upon the podium, the microphone lingering close to his lips as his audience stared after him, captivated by his charisma and charm. He ran his fingers through his honey blonde hair now damp with sweat because of the burning afternoon sun. 

“No one and  _ nothing _ should be allowed to decide your fate. Your choices matter,” he said, voice booming across the plaza. “You’re free to be whoever you want to be, free to love whoever you want to love. Some mark on your skin shouldn’t dictate who you spend the rest of your life with.”

A young woman in the crowd raised her hand and Felix pointed at her, “Yes?”

“But one way or the other, no matter how long it takes, you inevitably end up with your soulmate,” the woman said, her eyes fearful as she looked around at the other audience members for reassurance. “And horrible things happen to those who rebel against fate.”

Felix sighed and shook his head, resuming his pacing, “Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? You predict that shit is going to happen and that prediction comes true. Why? Because  _ you _ believe that it will come true. And  _ you _ behave in a way that makes it come true.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger, “It’s all in here.”

At the end of his little rally, he handed out blue flyers – words of encouragement and an invitation to a support group for those having soulmate-related troubles. He came to a halt in front of Chan and a grin spread across his face, “Enjoyed the meeting?”

Chan frowned and rolled his eyes, ignoring the flyer that Felix held out to him. “I was in town so I thought we could go to Seungmin’s together. You’re still coming, right?” Felix was always busy preparing for his next rally or thinking of ways to rebel against the system. 

“Yeah,” Felix nodded and squashed the remaining flyers into his coat pocket. “Bin’s meeting me there.”

“Changbin’s here?” Chan’s brows inched upward, disappearing beneath his platinum blonde bangs. 

Felix had been dating Changbin – a non-believer like himself – for just over three years now. Long distance. Changbin moved to Spain two years ago for work, while Felix stayed behind in South Korea. It meant that they only got to see each other every few months, but somehow, they were both alright with that. Chan just couldn’t imagine it. 

“Yeah,” Felix looked up from his phone. “He arrived two days ago. I haven’t seen him yet though. I was just so busy prepping for this rally.”

Chan frowned at that. Changbin’s last visit was five months ago. If he was Felix, he’d have wanted to see Changbin immediately.

“Hey, Lix!” The dark haired man who helped Felix with his rallies caught up to them. He smiled triumphantly, “I think I can get a bigger venue for the next one. Indoors! I know a friend who has a friend…” Jeongin wiggled his eyebrows. 

“That’ll be great!” Felix slammed his palms against Jeongin’s. “You’re the best!”

Jeongin winked and waved goodbye, giving Chan a shake of the head before he left. Chan wasn’t always welcome at Felix’s rallies. Chan was a believer. 

“Hey, can I stay over at your place tonight? Or you can stay over at mine? I just don’t want to be alone, you know?”

“Sure,” Chan smiled. He was always up for Felix’s company. “But wouldn’t you and Bin want to uh…?”

Felix shook his head, “He’s spending time with his family tomorrow and he has to wake up early. So…”

Chan didn’t understand what relevance that had, but he nodded anyway. “You know you’re always welcome.”

“See,” Felix whispered as Changbin’s arms wrapped around him, hugging him back against his chest, “that’s why I think the whole system is such bullshit.”

They were at Seungmin’s apartment for their usual Friday night dinner and a movie. Seungmin and Minho were in their own world, curled up in a blanket on the floor. They whispered between themselves as if Felix, Changbin and Chan weren’t there. That was probably what set Felix off.

“Lix,” Chan berated, keeping his voice down so Seungmin and Minho couldn’t overhear, “Seungmin is one of our closest friends. I don’t think you should call his relationship bullshit.”

Felix seemed unimpressed, his brows drawn together, gaze fixed on the couple cuddling on the floor, “But it is bullshit. They hated each other. How does this make sense?”

It was true. Although they all grew up in the same neighbourhood, Minho and Seungmin hadn’t been able to stand the sight of each other. But then when he turned seventeen Seungmin got his mark, and it matched the mark Minho got when he’d turned seventeen. They’d discovered it by accident a year later when they got into a fight at a club. Things changed immediately between them.

But unlike Felix, Chan didn’t think it was bad. He craved it too – that special bond with a soulmate. He brushed his fingers over the mark that had formed over his wrist years ago. He could feel his pulse as he touched the black lines – the sun bordered by a crescent moon. 

He excused himself and took a seat on the porch steps, looking up at the starless navy blue sky. He heard the screen door swing shut and smiled when Seungmin took a seat beside him. “What’s up?”

“How are you?”

Chan could hear the concern in Seungmin’s voice. Out of all their friends, Chan had always been more comfortable sharing his feelings with Seungmin. He never judged and he was a believer too. 

“It’s been difficult,” Chan admitted, staring at his mark again. “I just don’t understand it. I know they’re around somewhere. Nearby. I can  _ feel _ them, Seungmin. So why can’t I find them?”

Seungmin slung an arm around Chan’s shoulders, “I think I know someone who can help you out.”

Chan looked at him with wide eyes brimming with hope. “Who? How can they help?”

“Minho heard about it at the office. One of his co-workers told him about this guy…” Seungmin hesitated, looking somewhat nervous. “Look, I don’t know if this guy is legit or not. But apparently he can help people track their soulmates. I don’t know how. I don’t know the specifics. But if you want to pay him a visit—”

“I do,” Chan said eagerly, heart beating against his chest. Anything. He’ll do anything to fill that void. “Where can I find him?”

“Hey, Lix?” Chan chewed on his lip, nervous about confiding in his best friend. 

It hadn’t always been this way. Felix and Chan had grown up together – a result of their parents being childhood friends. Despite Chan being a little older, he treasured the time where he could tell Felix anything without feeling as if he would be looked down on because of his beliefs.

It all started on Felix’s seventeenth birthday when he got his mark. He’d been awfully upset, feeling none of the excitement Chan had felt when his own mark had appeared. Chan remembered Felix refusing to even attend his own birthday party. 

The next morning, Felix met him with a whole bunch of papers printed from the internet, rambling on about the importance of anti-soulmate activism. And that’s when he’d developed that superiority complex, as if he was privy to some secret the rest of them weren’t aware of, as if he was better than the rest of them just because he was suddenly a non-believer. 

Chan knew this happened all the time. Best friends grew apart, found interests outside of each other, had different worldviews, different beliefs that caused rifts between them. And most people would learn to move on, to accept that the rift couldn’t be mended. But for some reason that Chan couldn’t understand, both he and Felix chose to cling onto whatever was left of their friendship. 

He just couldn’t imagine a life without Felix in it. He couldn’t imagine seeing Felix ten years down the line at some cafe and realizing that he was looking at a stranger who once meant a lot to him. 

But even now as they shared a bed, the small patch of space between them filled with warmth, Chan couldn’t help but feel as if there was a cold chasm that had opened between him and his best friend. Could Felix even be called his best friend anymore? He was about to find out.

“Yeah?” The dim lamp on the nightstand turned Felix’s drowsy eyes golden as he blinked at Chan. “What is it?”

“I’m going to see someone tomorrow.”

Felix propped himself up on an elbow, seeming more alert now. “Who?”

“This guy,” Chan shifted so that his back was resting against the headboard. “Apparently he does soulmate tracking.”

“Soulmate tracking?” Felix scoffed, head slipping back down onto the pillow. He turned onto his side, leaving Chan to glare at his back. “That’s a scam, Chan. You know it. Just forget about it.”

“Forget about what?” Chan demanded. “Forget about my soulmate? My other half?” What the hell was wrong with Felix? It was fine if he wanted to rebel against fate, but couldn’t he accept what Chan wanted?

“You’re making all this effort to find your soulmate,” Felix said, and Chan could hear the scowl in his voice. “But what if your soulmate doesn’t care? What if they’re a non-believer like me? What if they don’t want to be found?”

“I need to hear that from them,” Chan said. As much as it hurt, he’d already thought about that a million times. “I’m not giving up until then.”

He touched the mark on his wrist, surprised when he felt an incredibly powerful pulse. He didn’t know what that meant, but it meant  _ something _ .

“Dasomun-gu, Shop 19,” Chan read the address Seungmin had forwarded to him. He grimaced at the purple scrawl printed across the display window:  _ Sweets, Treats and Teas _ . He could see an assortment of colourful candy lining the shelves of the small store. Had Seungmin given him the wrong address? 

He knew Seungmin would be at work now and he didn’t want to bother his friend. He could get the correct address later and come back some other time. He gave the store a wistful glance and turned away.

But the tinkle of a bell made Chan turn back around, and he was taken aback to see the door open, a young man standing on the threshold. He was tall with pink hair pulled back into a ponytail. He cocked his head to the side as he studied Chan, “Did you want to come in?”

Chan hesitated, “Um… I was just…”

“Looking for someone?” 

Chan nodded, his cheeks growing warm. “I was told there was someone who could uh… Help me with a – a problem.” He glanced over the man’s shoulder, at the shelves of candy. “But I probably have the wrong address.”

“You have the right address,” the man told him, the corner of his lips quirking into a smug smile, “Come in.”

As soon as Chan stepped over the threshold the smell of sugar, caramel and chocolate enveloped him like a warm hug. He inhaled, eyes wandering over the shelves like a kid entering a candy store for the first time. Bags of blue, pink and green cotton candy caught his attention and he could just imagine the sensation of the soft tufts melting on his tongue. Back when they were kids, Chan and Felix would gorge themselves on cotton candy and then whine about toothaches the day after. His lips involuntarily curved into a smile at the memory.

“Candy stores always bring back childhood memories, right?”

Chan tore his eyes away from the candy, startled to see the pink haired man leaning over the counter with folded arms and waiting for Chan as if he’d been staring at the cotton candy for quite a while... Had he? 

The young man jerked his head over his shoulder, “He’s through there.”

Chan spotted the door opened just a sliver behind him. “Uh, who exactly…?”

“Come in, Chan!” A voice bellowed, and Chan nearly jumped out of his skin.

Summoned by his curiosity, Chan followed the voice. Whoever this was knew he was coming. Knew his name.

The small room was brightly illuminated and sparse of furniture. Only a single desk and two chairs sat in the corner of the room. One of the chairs was occupied by a man with dark blue hair. He wasn’t dressed that differently from Chan – jeans, a hoodie, sneakers. For the life of him, Chan couldn’t understand how this individual was supposed to help him.

“Hey, Hyunjin, close up the shop for a few minutes please!”

Chan flinched when the man yelled again. He was loud. Chan decided that this was a man who liked the sound of his own voice. 

The man fixed Chan with a sloppy smile, “Han Jisung at your service.”

“How do you know who I am?” Chan asked, too suspicious to be courteous. 

Jisung gestured to the chair opposite him, “I saw you coming. Please take a seat.”

Chan reluctantly did as he was requested. “What do you mean? Saw me how?” He could picture a cartoonish character looking into a crystal ball in one of those animated movies. 

Jisung steepled his fingers, his gaze never leaving Chan’s, “I saw it last night in a dream.”

“In a dream…” Chan sighed and shook his head. Where the hell had Seungmin sent him?

“Oh look at you being a sceptic,” Jisung threw his head back and laughed. “You see, the thing is, Chan… If you believe in one thing, you have to inevitably believe in other things.”

“So what you’re saying,” Chan raised an eyebrow, “is that because I believe that I have a soulmate out there waiting for me, I have to believe that you can… see things?” It was ridiculous and Chan had to clamp his mouth shut to keep from blurting that out.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” Jisung grinned and smiled proudly as if Chan had just solved a difficult problem. “Now would you like some tea? I think that’s why you’re here. You want some tea.”

“Tea?” Chan scrunched his nose. “No, I don’t even drink tea—”

“Hyunjin, a cup of tea if you aren’t busy! Please!”

Chan flinched as Jisung’s voice rang out, summoning the tall man who already had a steaming cup on a saucer. He placed the cup on the desk and Chan didn’t miss the way Jisung fondly stared after Hyunjin. 

He looked down at the murky pink liquid in the cup, and caught a whiff of the steam. There was something oddly familiar about the scent. 

_ Chan was at the Lee family home. He’d just come over to check on Felix. After his seventeenth birthday party had been called off, Chan hadn’t heard from his best friend and it worried him sick.  _

_ “He’s in the kitchen,” Mrs Lee told him, encouraging him to go on. “He hasn’t been himself these past few days.” _

_ Chan found Felix at the kitchen counter sipping from a teacup. “Lix, how are you?” _

_ Felix turned to look at him with wide eyes and a forced smile. He set his cup down on the counter, “I’m great. Just coming down with something, I think.” _

_ Chan scrunched his nose at the strange smell in the air and glanced into the teacup. Steam rose from the green liquid inside.  _

_ “Herbal tea,” Felix said quickly, gulping down the rest.  _

“This tea…” Chan stared at the pink liquid. “Is there – a – a green type of tea like this? With this smell?”

Jisung gave him a curious look, “Yes, there are different kinds for different purposes. And their fragrances are all familiar. Why?”

Chan shook his head. It was none of his business what Felix drank and why. He knew Felix wouldn’t want him prying anyway.

“So if I drink this, will I see my soulmate’s name at the bottom of the cup or something?”

Jisung snorted, “If you do see anything of value at the bottom of your cup, you should probably join a career in fortune-telling.” When Chan frowned at him, he added, “The tea will make you  _ dream _ when you sleep tonight. You’ll see them. Your soulmate.”

Chan wanted to hope so badly but… It could be a scam. It was probably a scam. Still, unable to help the hope flowering in his chest, Chan lifted the cup to his lips.

“Are you sure?”

Chan paused.

“Are you sure you want to know? There’s no going back.”

“I’ve been waiting too long,” Chan murmured. Eight years since he received his mark. Eight years of pining for a stranger. 

“Knowing who your soulmate is,” Jisung snapped his fingers, “will snap the final piece of the bond into place. It’s not something that can be undone.”

Chan took a deep breath and steeled himself before he took a sip. It burned his tongue but it didn’t taste of anything. He sipped again, until he’d drained the entire cup.

He didn’t feel any different. And he supposed he’d only know the truth behind this supposedly magical tea when he went to bed later that night. 

“How much do I need to pay you?” he asked, rising to his feet and sliding his wallet out of his back pocket.

“I don’t charge people for this.”

Chan looked up in surprise. 

“I know what it’s like,” Jisung shrugged, growing solemn. “The waiting, the pining, the pain. I waited a while for Hyunjin too.” Ah, so they were soulmates. 

“Well,” Chan grimaced, then offered him a polite smile, “thank you.” He didn’t know whether this was going to work, but he was grateful all the same.

Hyunjin was at the counter when Chan left the back room. There was a flurry of movement, but the man wasn’t fast enough, and Chan caught a glimpse of the blue flyer before Hyunjin shoved it out of sight. One of Felix’s anti-soulmate flyers. 

Interesting. Did Jisung know that his soulmate was attending Felix’s rallies?

He pretended that he saw nothing and grabbed a bag of pink cotton candy. “How much?”

Hyunjin studied him for a moment before shaking his head, “It’s on me.” He reached for a nearby rack and he handed Chan a brown paper bag. “These too. Sugar roasted chestnuts. I made them this morning.” 

Chan smiled, “That’s generous of you.”

Hyunjin didn’t return his smile, “Good luck with your soulmate.”

Chan stared up at the ceiling, willing himself to fall asleep. He was too nervous. Too excited. Too afraid. 

If this worked… If he finally found out…

He sighed and turned onto his side, pulling the covers up to his neck. He could hear the chirping of crickets on the lawn outside, dogs barking in the distance, a car speeding down the street. He closed his eyes, shutting out the glow of the moon as it shone through his curtains. And he began to silently count until he grew drowsy.

… two hundred and four, two hundred and five, two hundred and six…

_ He was almost there. Almost at the top of the precipice. He dug his fingers into the slate, feet pushing forward as he clambered upward. He could hear heavy breaths as someone followed behind him. But he didn’t dare look back. Not yet. _

_ He pushed onward, the cold wind lashing at his face, forcing him to pause and shudder. Behind him, the footfalls grew silent, waiting for him to go on.  _

_ Almost there. _

_ Chan clenched his jaw, using all of his strength to heave himself up onto the precipice. He was there! He’d done it! They’d done it!  _

_ He carefully crawled towards the ledge, eyes wide as he peered at the mist swirling below. It was beautiful. So beautiful— _

_ It happened before he could react. The rock gave way beneath him, crumbling into dust. A scream was torn from Chan’s lips as he began to plummet into the depths below. _

_ It took Chan a guttering minute to realize that he wasn’t falling. _

_ He dangled off the precipice. His saving grace was the small hand that struggled to fasten its grip on his own. _

_ Chan looked up, meeting Felix’s stricken gaze. Felix… _

_ “I’m sorry,” Felix murmured. A tear drop slipped down his cheek and splashed onto their intertwined hands. “I’m sorry,” Felix whispered again, and Chan couldn’t understand what he was apologising for. _

_ “Felix…” _

_ “I have to let you go, Chan.” _ __

_ Felix’s grip slackened, and Chan began to fall. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading 💗 Comments and kudos are very much appreciated 💗
> 
> 🌸Twitter: flora_stays


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